I do, however, want to highlight the consistory Saturday when Pope Benedict created six new cardinals. I’ll bring you highlights of his homily, and then take you with me as we pay a courtesy visit on the cardinals in the Apostolic Palace.

Sunday, feast of Christ the King, the new cardinals concelebrated Mass with the Holy Father in the presence of scores of their fellow cardinals and thousands of faithful, including family members and friends. Throughout the weekend colorful native dress from the Philippines, India and Nigeria could be seen in and around St. Peter’s Basilica and square.

Sunday, after Mass the Pope recited the Angelus as is customary, asking the faithful to pray for the new cardinals, and today he received the six eminences, their families and friends, personally welcoming several family members.

THE CHURCH IS CATHOLIC AS SHE IS THE CHURCH FOR ALL PEOPLES

Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict celebrated an ordinary public consistory in which he created six new cardinals: James Michael Harvey, Bechara Boutr s Rai O.M.M., Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Ruben Salazar Gomez and Luis Antonio G. Tagle.

The ceremony, the fifth of Pope Benedict’s pontificate, consists of an opening prayer, the proclamation of the Gospel, the Pope’s homily, after which he solemnly pronounces the formula of creation of the new cardinals, their names and the diaconate or presbyteral order to which they have been assigned. The new cardinals then recite the Creed and swear their fidelity and obedience to the Pope and his successors.

One by one each new cardinal kneels before the Pope to receive his biretta. The Pope says: "You must be ready to conduct yourselves with fortitude, even to the shedding of your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for the peace and well-being of the people of God."

The cardinals then receive their ring, and the Holy Father says: “"Know that with the love of the Prince of the Apostles your love for the Church is reinforced. He then assigns each new cardinal a titular or diaconate church in Rome as a sign of their participation in the Holy Father's pastoral care of Rome, hands them the Bull of Creation and exchanges an embrace of peace. The cardinals greet one another and their fellow cardinals in the College of Cardinals.

"'I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church',” the Pope began his homily. “These words, which the new cardinals will soon proclaim in the course of their solemn profession of faith, come from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed, the synthesis of the Church’s faith that each of us receives at baptism. Only by professing and preserving this rule of truth intact can we be authentic disciples of the Lord.”

Benedict XVI stated, “In this consistory, I would like to reflect in particular on the meaning of the word 'catholic', a word that indicates an essential feature of the Church and her mission. … What makes the Church catholic is the fact that Christ in His saving mission embraces all humanity. While during His earthly life Jesus’ mission was limited to the Jewish people, 'to the lost sheep of the house of Israel' from the beginning it was meant to bring the light of the Gospel to all peoples and lead all nations into the kingdom of God."

"Jesus sends His Church not to a single group, then, but to the whole human race, and thus He unites it, in faith, in one people, in order to save it. … This universal character emerges clearly on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fills the first Christian community with His presence, so that the Gospel may spread to all nations, causing the one People of God to grow in all peoples.

"'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation'; 'make disciples of all nations'. With these words, Jesus sends the Apostles to all creation, so that God’s saving action may reach everywhere.”

“In this Consistory,” concluded the Holy Father, “I want to highlight in particular the fact that the Church is the Church of all peoples, and so she speaks in the various cultures of the different continents. She is the Church of Pentecost: amid the polyphony of the various voices, she raises a single harmonious song to the living God."

THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE CHURCH SEEN IN NEW CARDINALS

This past weekend was another very special time in Rome as the Church welcomed six new cardinals from the United States, the Philippines, Lebanon, Colombia, Nigeria and India, bringing the total number of papal electors in the College of Cardinals to 120.

Such events are momentous for the principal players, the new cardinals, but also for their family and friends, because some day, one day, one of the “new” cardinals could well become Pope. When a Pope announces he will hold a consistory to name new cardinals, media speculation abounds on which new cardinal, is most “papabile,” a potential candidate to become Pope. And the speculation continues during consistory weekend when cardinals are observed, when their words weighed, when the Pope’s words are weighed, and when people meet and greet them during the courtesy visits in the Apostolic Palace the afternoon of the consistory.

Resplendent in their new red vestments, the cardinals are located in several of the stunningly beautiful rooms of the Apostolic Palace. They are assisted by a priest secretary who receives gifts given to the cardinal and hands out holy cards commemorating the day and by a photographer who records all the people who have come to greet their friend, now a member of the august College of Cardinals.

The Sala Regia (Royal Hall - in following photos) and the Sala Ducale (Ducal Hall) hosted the new eminences Saturday afternoon from 4:30 to 6:30.

I have posted several videos on www.youtube.com/joansrome of the morning’s consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica with Pope Benedict and of the afternoon courtesy visits. The rooms were so crowded and the lines to meet the cardinals so long that its was almost impossible to video the cardinals, so you will see more of the rooms than people.

Entrance to the Apostolic Palace for these visits is normally through the Bronze Door. However Saturday visitors were ushered through security on the right hand colonnade of St. Peter’s Square to the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica, and then to the Scala Regia (Royal Staircase), At the top of this magnificent staircase, one enters the Sala Regia.

Cardinals James Michael Harvey, Bechara Boutros Rai O.M.M., and Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal received their friends in the Sala Regia.

I wonder how many visitors knew Saturday that the Sistine Chapel, the Pauline Chapel and the Hall of Blessings (the long room above the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica with the five balconies, including the celebrated central loggia, overlooking St. Peter’s Square) were all just a few feet away as they stood in line to greet the three cardinals who received guests in this room. This magnificent room, built and decorated between 1540 and 1573, was originally intended to welcome visiting sovereigns.

Cardinals John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Ruben Salazar Gomez and Luis Antonio G. Tagle received their guests in an adjacent room, the Sala Ducale. Originally two rooms, as you can sense from the arch that separates them, the rooms were made into one by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Originally it was in this hall that Popes ascended the sedia gestatoria, the portable throne chair, and were then carried down the Scala Regia into St- Peter’s Basilica (reversing the path we took earlier in the afternoon to get to the courtesy visits.

I should have started to get into the security line at least an hour earlier than I did. The screening went fairly rapidly but then it took over an hour just to get from the basilica steps through the atrium and up the scala Regia to the Sala Regia. The wait for Cardinal Harvey was about 30 minutes, by which time I could only visit one more cardinal, given the length of lines.

I was anxious to greet Cardinal Tagle of Manila, whom I had met at the recent synod and I also met his parents and his brother Manuel who (take note!) owns a bakery, Sweet City Desserts in Vienna, Virginia. The entire Tagle family is very familiar with EWTN so if you go to the bakery, tell Manuel Tagle you follow EWTN and Joan’s Rome.

I was very struck by Cardinal Tagle when I met him a month ago at the synod, just one day after the Pope announced he would be elevated to cardinal. I was likewise struck by his great humility when he spoke at the final synod press conference (I posted a video on youtube with his remarks) That humility could be seen in his tears Saturday morning at the consistory.

Is it that humility that has led a number of observers to label him “papabile”?

I was very sorry to have missed Cardinal Onaiyekan (another EWTN fan – there are 20 million Catholics in Nigeria, according to Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo, Nigeria), and Patriarch Bechara Rai whom I first met in Beirut in 2010 when he was bishop of Byblos.

SYNOD FOR NEW EVANGELIZATION: PROPOSITIONS 13 AND 14

Proposition 13 : CHALLENGES OF OUR TIME

The proclamation of the good news in different contexts of the world — marked by the processes of globalization and secularism — places different challenges before the Church: at times in an outright religious persecution, at other times in a widespread indifference, interference, restriction or harassment. The Gospel offers a vision of life and of the world that cannot be imposed, but only proposed, as the good news of the gratuitous love of God and of peace. The message of truth and of beauty can help people escape from the loneliness and lack of meaning to which the conditions of post-modern society often relegate them. Therefore, believers must strive to show to the world the splendor of a humanity grounded in the mystery of Christ. Popular religiosity is important but not sufficient; more is needed to help recognize the duty to proclaim to the world the reason for Christian hope, to those Catholics estranged from the Church, to those who do not follow Christ, to the sects and those experimenting with different kinds of spiritualities.

Proposition 14 : THE NEW EVANGELIZATION AND RECONCILIATION

In a world that is broken by wars and violence, a world hurt by a widespread individualism which separates human beings among themselves, and pits one against the other, the Church must exercise her ministry of reconciliation in a calm and resolute way. The Church in the spirit of the New Evangelization undertakes the task of reconciliation. Faithful to Jesus’ message, (“...he has broken down the dividing wall of hostility” Eph 2:14), the Church has to make an effort to break down the walls that separate human beings. With the message of love, she has to preach the newness of the salvific Gospel of Our Lord, who came to free us from our sins and to invite us to build harmony, peace and justice among all peoples.

Write to Joan at:
joansrome@ewtn.com 

CLICK HERE FOR PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON VISITING THE VATICAN.

View Joan's videos at : www.youtube.com/joansrome